由 circSpdyA 编码的 127aa 促进乳腺癌中 FA 合成和 NK 细胞抑制

Lipid metabolism reprogram plays key roles in breast cancer tumorigenesis and immune escape. The underlying mechanism and potential regulator were barely investigated.

We thus established an in vivo tumorigenesis model, mice-bearing breast cancer cells were treated with an ordinary diet and high-fat diet, species were collected and subjected to circRNA sequence to scan the potential circRNAs regulating the lipid metabolism. CircSpdyA was one of the most upregulated circRNAs and had the potential to encode a 127-aa micro peptide (referred to as 127aa).

127 aa promotes tumorigenesis through promoting the fatty acid de novo synthesis by directly binding to FASN. Single-cell sequence indicated 127aa inhibited NK cell infiltration and function. This was achieved by inhibiting the transcription of NK cell activators epigenetically.

Moreover, lipid-laden from 127aa positive cancer cells transferred to NK cells inhibited the cytotoxicity. Taken together, circSpdyA encoded 127aa promotes fatty acid de novo synthesis through directly binding with FASN and induced NK cell repression by inhibiting the transcription of NK cell activators.